Don't know you, don't care
by Lakritzwolf
Summary: Written for the Fallout Kink Meme in LiveJournal: Shrapnel and FLW. They meet, they don't care. And yet sometimes it's better if you do not care at all.


Written for the Fallout Kink Meme in LiveJournal_. This prompt wasn't specified in any way, just Shrapnel and FLW. So this is what came out when I started writing and I am still tearing out my hair about the ending, but there wasn't anything I could do about it._

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><p>He saw her come down the stairs, all self-conscious smiles and dirty Vault suit. While lighting up a smoke he watched her coming for their stall and could see her take a breath for what she obviously meant to be an ever-so-sweet 'Hi, my name is whatever pleased to meet you I'd like to blah blah blah'. He wasn't in the mood for that kind of shit. He never was.<p>

She reached the counter and opened her mouth.  
>"Hi, my name's..."<br>"Don't know you, don't care. Keep it short." He blew a cloud of smoke, not directly into her face, but not that far off the mark, either.  
>She leaned back and blinked a couple of times before she remembered to shut her mouth. Yet another couple of seconds later she took another breath and rolled her shoulders. "Okay." She cleared her throat. "Ammo. 10 mm. You repair weapons, too?"<br>He had to suppress a cocky smile. "Let's have a look at it."  
>She dropped a worn and battered 10mm pistol onto the counter and Shrapnel picked it up with two fingers. "Are you serious?"<br>She crossed her arms. "Can you repair that or not?"  
>"That thing's beyond repair, kid." He dropped the gun. "Have a look at our stuff, though, there's gotta be something that strikes your fancy." To be honest, he didn't think the girl was able to shoot anything bigger than that 10mm and wasn't too surprised when she just bought another one of those and a bit of ammo.<br>"Where's the science lab?", she asked after holstering the pistol.  
>He pointed at the door. "Up there. Down the corridor. Can't miss it."<br>"Thanks."

Watching her walk away Shrapnel leaned against the cabinet and nursed his smoke. This was the second time someone in a Vault suit had stumbled into Rivet City within a couple of weeks and he briefly wondered if the two had anything to do with each other. Shrugging that pointless musing off, he sat down onto the couch. She had a nice ass, though.

**x-x-x-x-x**

It was only an hour later that day when the kid came back. She was definitely trying to keep a stiff upper lip for whatever reason, but was making not too good a job of it. She made a point of avoiding him, however, and walked directly over to Flak.

"Need something with a bit more firepower." She held up her 10mm.  
>Flak raised his eyebrows and mustered her.<br>"Yeah, I know", she snapped. "I'm just a girl in a Vault suit. But my dad and me, we gotta claim back the purifier, and for that, I've got to have a gun that can do something against mutants."  
>With a thoughtful frown Flak looked at Shrapnel who shrugged. "Combat shotgun would do, but I doubt she'd be able to handle the kickback."<br>"Yeah", Flak replied with a nod, and to the kid, he added: "You sure about this?"  
>She shrugged. "No. I told him we needed the help of the brotherhood, but those fuckers abandoned the project last time there was a problem and no one else will have anything to do with it."<br>Flak shook his head and opened a chest while Shrapnel lit another smoke with a soft snort. "So it's you and daddy against the rest of the world, huh?"  
>She avoided his eyes. "Yeah, pretty much."<p>

After straightening up, Flak put a submachine gun onto the counter. "Could imagine you'd be able to handle this."  
>"I think so, too." She picked it up and hefted it. "Doesn't feel too bad."<br>She bought more ammo and left the marketplace. Flak and Shrapnel stared after her with shakes of their heads.  
>"Man, if I had a girl like that I'd do anything to keep her safe, not drag her with me into the thick of a hopeless fight", Flak said after a while.<br>Shrapnel shrugged. "We don't know half of this, buddy."  
>"We don't, no."<p>

**x-x-x-x-x**

Two hours later the sounds of a vertibird alerted the whole marketplace and Flak and Shrapnel picked up their weapons to join the security guards, because apart from those, they were the only ones with serious combat experience.  
>The vertibird wasn't homing in on Rivet City however, it was headed for the purifier and watching it land beside the memorial, Shrapnel lit up a smoke with a very thoughtful frown.<p>

**x-x-x-x-x**

It was a couple of weeks before they saw the Vault girl again. It took Shrapnel a while, however, to recognise her, because not only was she wearing a battered combat armour but she had also cut off her hair a good bit. On top of that, she looked the worse for wear; tired, battered and pale, sporting a bright red scar on her left cheek that looked as if she'd been grazed by a laser weapon.

Upon reaching their stall she dropped off a handful of shit onto the counter. "Ammo", she said to Shrapnel. "10mm. You repair armour?"  
>"Sure thing."<p>

With a nod she strode off towards Bannon's, and after bickering around for a while left the marketplace with a bundle under her arms. In the meantime, Shrapnel was mustering the weapons and realised they were all energy guns, bearing the stamp of the Enclave. And he had to admit he was honestly impressed because fuck, he had never seen so many of them on a heap. There were four laser pistols and two rifles.

The girl came back somewhat later, now wearing a pair of leather trousers, a shirt and a vest. She dropped the combat armour off beside the weapons and to his surprise, took out a pack of cigarettes from a pocket.  
>"How long will you be needing?", she asked Shrapnel as she lit a smoke.<br>He gave the armour a considering stare. "Couple of hours."  
>"Good. 'cause I need a drink."<p>

With that she was off, heading for Gary's, and while Shrapnel sat down to replace a few straps and hammer a few dents out of the plates he wondered what had happened to her. Not that this was his business, of course. Not that he was really interested. That he was thinking about that shit showed only how fucking bored he was at times like this.

She picked up her shit some time later and vanished again, but when he and Flak went for a drink into the Rudder that night, she was there, too, sitting at a table in a corner and nursing a smoke. Flak had spotted her first and pointed inconspicuously with his chin into her direction. Shrapnel followed the gesture with his eyes and shrugged.  
>They shared a few drinks and when Flak said he'd hit the sack Shrapnel announced he'd like to have another drink or two. Yet shortly after Flak had left him he heard steps coming up to him. Someone put two beers onto the table. He looked up into the face of the Vault girl.<br>"Wanna beer?"  
>"Sure."<p>

She sat down beside him and they nursed their beers for a while before Shrapnel announced he'd call it a day. She bade him a good night and he left the Rudder.  
>Not quite feeling like going to bed Shrapnel wandered the empty corridors for a while before heading for the flight deck where he meant to have another smoke to clear his head. He couldn't get the Vault girl out of it and she had no fucking business being there.<p>

It wasn't before too long, however, when he heard steps again. Then he could smell smoke and sure as fuck, there she came, rounding the corner with a small and almost flirty smile.  
>Shrapnel brought the smoke to his lips. "What. You been following me, kid?"<br>As an answer, she just smiled.  
>"Whaddya want?"<br>She chuckled at that, expelling a cloud of smoke. "Man, it's been a while since someone asked me what I fucking wanted."

He felt his eyebrows shoot up, but the girl just shrugged.

"It was all do this, do that, get that for me, kill them for me, and everything to find my dad who left me in the Vault when he made a break for it, leaving me behind like an old sock for the fucking purifier. And when I finally found him and we did get to the fucking purifier, bam, comes the Enclave and kills him."  
>"Huh." Shrapnel snipped the butt end away with a flick of his fingers. "I'm sorry, kid."<br>"No, you aren't", she said with a crooked smile. "But thanks for trying to be polite."  
>Not quite knowing what to reply to this he focussed on grinding out his butt end.<br>"And now...", she went on, "...and now the Brotherhood is into it again, all of a sudden that the Enclave's got their dirty fingers into this, too, but they can't send one of their own soldiers to get the parts we need, oh no. It has to be me, if I want to finish my parents dream, it has to be me... and fuck, I really want to try and finish this... but it's a suicide mission."

Shrapnel patted his pockets but she was faster, took her pack of cigarettes out and offered it to him. He took one while giving her a look out of narrowed eyes. "The fuck are you telling me this, kid?"  
>She dropped her own butt end and ground it out beneath the heel of her boot while Shrapnel lit up his smoke. "'cause you don't care."<br>He blinked. "I fail to spot the line of reasoning, kid."  
>She chuckled again. "You don't care", she repeated and leant next to him with her back against the wall of the bridge tower. "And I don't want anyone to care, and I don't want to care myself, either, 'cause that's only a burden and it'll tie you down."'<p>

Shrapnel looked down at her with a completely mystified frown. She in turn looked up at him and suddenly, reached up and closed the fingers around the collar of his vest.  
>"I don't want to die a virgin", she said.<br>Shrapnel froze with the smoke halfway up. Then he rallied himself, clamped the smoke between his lips and crossed his arms after pushing her hand away. "You're insane, kid."  
>"Suit yourself", she said and pushed herself off the wall. "I guess it doesn't matter since I most likely won't be seeing you again anyway."<br>Shrapnel suppressed the urge to shake himself like a wet dog. With a huff of breath he pushed himself of the wall as well and took a step to put a hand onto her shoulder, only realising at that point that she was taller than most women he had met so far and he didn't have to bend his head to look into her face when she straightened up. She slowly tilted her head.  
>"Give a man a break, kid. Besides, you don't know what you're asking for."<br>"I know", she said. "That's why I asked, 'cause I didn't want to die without knowing."

Shaking his head Shrapnel put his other hand onto her other shoulder and pushed her around and against the wall of the bridge tower again.  
>They stared at each other for a very long while until Shrapnel decided that it had been a while since someone had offered him a free fuck and it would doubtlessly take ages before it happened again. Clamping the smoke between his lips in the corner of his mouth he<br>rested both palms on the wall beside her face. "I don't do romantic shit with candle light and fuck because it's your first time."  
>She smiled under lowered lids. "If I'd have wanted that I would have asked someone else, twit."<br>The chuckle that rose up in his throat died on its way out as she reached for his belt and unbuckled in one swift move. Shrapnel shook his head. "You're sure not wasting any time."  
>She grinned mischievously up at him. "If I give myself time to think now I'll chicken out on you." With these words she undid her own belt and let her trousers drop and for some reason, Shrapnel wasn't surprised that she wasn't wearing any underwear. Within a few attempts of digging her toes into the heel of the other foot she had shed both boots and trousers and unzipped his fly while he was still leaning over her with his hands against the wall on either side of her head and the smoke in the corner of his mouth.<p>

He couldn't suppress a grunt when she dug both hands behind his waistline, and felt a strange mix of arousal and amusement upon seeing her facial expression, somewhat between giddy excitement and awe, resulting in a strange, but terribly arousing smile. He felt his breathing speed up a little. "Anything like you expected?"  
>She shook her head while licking her lips. "No." But there was still that smile on her face.<br>"You're still up for this?"  
>"I'm naked from hip downwards and I have both my hands in your boxers. Stop wasting time asking stupid questions."<br>"Then stop playing around with him and get him out."  
>Chewing her lower lip she did what he had told her and risked only a casual glance into the direction of his crotch afterwards before looking into his face again.<br>Shrapnel in turn took a step forward and ground his bare crotch against hers. "Last chance."  
>"Stop shitting around."<p>

With an amused grunt around the cigarette between his lips he used his left hand to guide himself while he was still propped up against the wall with the other. She gasped when he found her entrance and he was a little surprised to feel her moist and ready, but didn't waste any time anymore, just like she had asked him to. He sheathed himself with one rather ruthless thrust and, ignoring her whimper of pain, propping his left hand against the wall again began to move inside her. The girl in turn stopped whimpering after a few seconds and began to claw at his back. When the sounds she emitted changed their nature and became more urgent he picked up speed and after some moments, simply let go and finished himself off into her in what he thought couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes.

Catching back his breath he looked down on her, but she had her eyes closed. Her lips were slightly parted, however, and she was short of breath herself. Overall, she looked as if it hadn't been too bad, and Shrapnel puffed his cheeks and drew a deep breath before he leaned back and withdrew himself with a grunt, exhaling a cloud of smoke. She didn't emit any sound and opened her eyes after a few moments. The smile she gave him was strange, but slow and sensuous.

Shrapnel pulled his pants back up and buckled his belt before spitting out the butt end. "Anything like you expected?"  
>She chuckled under her breath. "Fuck, no." Then she went into a crouch to gather her trousers and boots and after putting those on, straightened up to pull her trousers back up. Having done this she reached into her pocket but this time it was him who was faster and he offered her his pack. She took a cigarette with a smile and lit it. "Thanks."<br>They shared a silent smoke and when they were done and she had ground her butt end out under her boot, she looked up at him. "Thanks. Maybe we meet again." With these words she turned around and Shrapnel watched her vanish through a door into the ship. Shaking his head he lit another smoke.

**x-x-x-x-x**

It was impossible to overlook or even ignore the battle for the purifier a few days later, what with a dozen vertibirds circling around above the memorial and Rivet City, the whole of the Brotherhood armed to the teeth and a motherfucking twenty-five feet robot. A couple of the bolder inhabitants were out on the deck or the draw bridge to watch the spectacle and Flak and Shrapnel were out there, too, but again as a support for the security guards because no one had a way of knowing what exactly the Enclave was after and if they wouldn't try and take Rivet City as well.

As it turned out, they really had only been interested in the purifier, and once the battle was over most of the spectators withdrew themselves into the ship again. Only after watching the battlefield for several hours more, however, did the security guards the same.

They heard it in the radio another couple of days later. Of how the mysterious girl from Vault 101 had saved the purifier and sacrificed herself for the Wasteland, fulfilling her parents' dream that now had not only claimed their lives, but her own as well. The radio DJ was full of thankful praise about her sacrifice. Fresh, clean water for everyone.

Shrapnel leaned back and lit a smoke, propping one foot against the wall of the bridge tower. The night around him was silent and cool, and the clouds of his breath mixed with the smoke from his cigarette and drifted upwards, vanishing over his head into a haze and then, into nothing. He stared at the dissolving smoke and realised that he hadn't even known her name.

But at least she hadn't died a virgin.


End file.
